The NASA Galileo mission was an American space probe that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several smaller bodies in the solar system. The spacecraft was launched on October 18, 1989, from Space Launch Complex 41B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. It took approximately six years for the spacecraft to reach Jupiter.
During its journey to Jupiter, the spacecraft made several flybys of Venus and Earth. These gravity assists helped to speed up the spacecraft and put it on course for Jupiter. On December 7, 1995, Galileo became the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around Jupiter. It then began a two-year study of the planet and its moons.
Galileo made many important discoveries during its time at Jupiter. These included finding evidence that there is water on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. This discovery is significant because it means that there could be life on Europa. Galileo also discovered active volcanoes on another one of Jupiter’s moons, Io.
The mission ended on September 21, 2003 when the spacecraft was deliberately crashed into Jupiter’s atmosphere. This was done to avoid any possible contamination of Europa with Earth bacteria that might be onboard the spacecraft. Even though the mission is over, scientists are still studying data collected by Galileo and learning more about our solar system and beyond.